Blackberry and Raspberry - Rubus spp. | Fruit Crops Erect black raspberry Three species with greatest horticultural importance are recognized as: Blackberry – “Rubus spp.” is the best approximation to a scientific name, considering that blackberry may be the most taxonomically complex of any fruit crop. R. ursinus Cham. & Schlect. is native to the Pacific Northwest, and has been useful in producing commercial cultivars grown in that region. In Europe, there are 6 species in the Moriferi section that have been used to produce cultivars of local importance; they are referred to as the aggregate species R. fruticosus L. agg. Red Raspberry – R. idaeus L. The European subspecies of this group is designated R. idaeus subsp. vulgatus Arrhen., whereas the North American red raspberry is termed R. idaeus subsp. strigosus Michx., or more simply R. idaeus (European) and R. strigosus (North American). Black Raspberry - R. occidentalis L. This is fairly straight-forward, being a good species of its own. Its range overlaps that of R. strigosus, but extends further to the south.

The distinction between blackberries and raspberries revolves around fruit characteristics. All bramble fruits are aggregate fruits, which means they are formed by the aggregation of several smaller fruits, called drupelets. The drupelets are all attached to a structure called the receptacle, which is the fibrous central core of the fruit. In raspberries, the receptacle remains with the plant when fruit are picked, creating the hollow appearance of the harvested fruit. In blackberry, the drupelets remain attached to the receptacle, which comes off with the fruit when picked. A second distinction – raspberry drupelets are hairy and adhere to one-another, whereas blackberry drupelets are hairless and smooth. Some of the most important commercially grown brambles are actually blackberry – red raspberry hybrids. Examples include ‘Boysenberry’, ‘Loganberry’, and ‘Youngberry’. The fruit flavor is unique, but culture and management is more like blackberry than raspberry. Major Rubus hybrids include: Cultivars Blackberries. Cultivars are classified by growth habit – trailing, erect, semi-erect, and also as thorny or thornless.

In the Pacific Northwest, trailing types comprise 98% of acreage, like ‘Thornless Evergreen’, ‘Marion’, and ‘Kotata’. Marion is 50% of the acreage; growers in Oregon call them “Marionberries”, not blackberries. ‘Thornless Evergreen’ is a spine-free mutant of the European species R. laciniatus. Red Raspberries. As with blackberry, cultivars are distinguished by growth habit, trailing or erect. Primocane or autumn fruiting raspberries are a unique group that can produce fruit in their first year, or two crops per year (see below). ‘Heritage’, ‘Amity’, ‘Redwing’, and ‘Autumn Bliss’ are major primocane fruiting types. In the Pacific Northwest, ‘Meeker’ is grown on about 60% of the acreage, ‘Willamette’ on 30%, and a few others are grown on the remaining 10%. Black Raspberries. Few cultivars of this species are grown.

‘Munger’ is grown on >90% of the acreage in Oregon, and ‘Allen’, ‘Blackhawk’, ‘Bristol’, and ‘Jewel’ are available for home garden culture. ORIGIN OF RUBUS, HISTORY OF CULTIVATION Blackberry. Blackberries are native to Asia, Europe, North and South America. However, blackberries grown in specific regions are largely derived from species indigenous to that region. Blackberries have been used in Europe for over 2000 years, for eating, medicinal purposes, and as hedges to keep out marauders. In the US, R. allegheniensis, R. argutus, R. cuneifolius, and R. canadensis have been important in developing “northern” blackberry cultivars, including thornless types (cultivars popular in the western US also). In the southeastern US, R. trivialis has been used to confer low-chilling and disease resistance into cultivars, such as ‘Brazos’. In Europe, R.

lacinatus (“cut leaf” or “evergreen”) was the first domesticated species; it was imported into the Pacific Northwest in 1860, where it produced one of the main cultivars for that region, ‘Thornless Evergreen’. R. ursinus is native to the Pacific Northwest and has been important in the development of trailing cultivars grown in that region. Red Raspberry. The species is indigenous to Asia Minor and North America, (see above) although the epithet denotes Mt. Ida, in the Caucasus mountains of Asia Minor. Fruits were gathered from the wild by the people of Troy and the foothills of Mt. Ida around the time of Christ. Records of domestication were found in 4th century writings of Palladius, a Roman agriculturist, and seeds have been discovered at Roman forts in Britain. Hence, the Romans probably spread cultivation throughout Europe. The British popularized and improved raspberries throughout the middle ages, and exported the plants to New York by 1771. Black Raspberry. This species is indigenous only to North America, where it is most abundant in the east, exclusive of the Gulf states, and found in the west along with related R.

leucodermis. Domestication appears to have been delayed until the 1800s, due to the popularity of red raspberries and abundant supply of wild fruit. In 1850, H.H. Doolittle discovered tip layerage as an efficient propagation method, and released ‘Doolittle’. A rival of his released ‘Doomore’ shortly thereafter, but both were superseded by ‘Ohio Everbearer’. By 1880, there were at least 17 named cultivars, and several thousand acres under cultivation in New York. Today, black raspberries are the least important of the brambles, with very little commercial production compared to blackberries or red raspberries. They make fine garden plants in the mid-Atlantic region of the eastern US, the Midwest, and Pacific Northwest. WORLD AND UNITED STATES BLACKBERRY AND RASPBERRY PRODUCTION For the most up to date statistical data on United States and World production numbers please refer to the following two websites: World: The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Statistics Division (FAOSTAT). FAOSTAT United States: The United States Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service (USDA Ag Stats).

USDA Ag Stats BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION Plant Blackberries and raspberries are erect, semi-erect, or trailing, generally thorny shrubs, producing renewal shoots from the ground called “canes”. The plants are perennial, composed of biennial canes which overlap in age. Individual canes grow vegetatively for one year, initiate flower buds in late summer, fruit the following summer, then die. The first year canes are called “primocanes”, and in the second year when they flower, “floricanes”. Raspberry thorns are finer and more flexible than thorns on blackberries. Within raspberries, black and purple have more prominent thorns than red raspberries. Leaves are palmately compound with 3-5 leaflets, the middle one being the largest. Leaf margins are finely serrate. Red raspberries are unique in that there are some primocane (syn. Autumn fruiting) cultivars available which produce fruit in their first summer, and allow the crop to be treated more-or-less as an annual.

Flower White to pink flowers (1″ diameter) are borne terminally on several-flowered racemes, cymes, or corymbose inflorescences on current season’s growth. For dewberry, raspberries, and some wild blackberries, inflorescences are cymose, and some flowers are borne singly in axils of leaves on fruiting laterals. Blackberry flowers generally have larger petals than those of raspberries. Flowers are initiated in late summer in biennial types, early to mid-summer in primocane fruiting types. The gynoecium consists of 60-100 ovaries, each of which develops into a drupelet. There are 60-90 stamens, five sepals and five petals. Pollination Most cultivars of blackberries, black raspberries, and raspberries are self-fruitful and do not require pollinizers. However, dewberries are self-incompatible, and must be inter-planted for good fruit set. Honey bees are naturally attracted to brambles, and wind also aids pollination. Fruit In all brambles, the fruit is an aggregate of drupelets.

Blackberries retain the receptacle within the fruit at harvest. Fruiting begins in the second year of the planting, and continues for >10 years if properly managed. Fruit development occurs rapidly, taking only 30-50 days for most raspberries, and 40-70 days for blackberries. GENERAL CULTURE Soils and Climate Brambles are suited to a wide range of soil types, from sandy to clay loams, provided with good drainage and pH of 5-7. Depth is not important since plants develop shallow root systems, although blackberries are more deeply rooted and therefore drought tolerant than raspberries as a rule. Soils previously planted to solanaceous crops (pepper, tomato, eggplant, potato) in the last 5 years should be avoided, since a fungus that can kill raspberry roots is harbored by these plants. Climatically, blackberries have a more warm-temperate adaptation than do raspberries. Black and red raspberries generally require cooler summers than blackberries, and are poorly adapted to the southern USA or to hot, arid climates.

Mid-winter cold hardiness can be a great limitation in growing blackberries in the northern USA or away from the moderate, maritime climates of Oregon and Washington. Tender cultivars can be killed at 0 to +10 F, and the hardiest tolerate only about -10 F. Raspberries are more cold hardy than blackberries, with red hardier than black or purple raspberry. Red raspberry can tolerate -20°F, whereas black and purple raspberries are injured at -5 to -10°F. Frost damage is generally not a problem for brambles. Blackberries generally have lower chilling requirements to break dormancy than raspberries, ranging from 200-800 hr. Raspberries have chilling requirements ranging from 800-1600 hr. Propagation Unlike many fruit crops, brambles are easily propagated by a number of techniques. In fact, most propagate themselves quite well, and can be invasive or even weedy. Root Cuttings. Roots about pencil-size are cut into pieces 4-6 inches long and planted 2-3 inches deep, 1-2 ft apart in rows.

Root cuttings are dug in Jan – Feb., and planted in Mar-April. There are notable exceptions to root cutting propagation. Trailing blackberries, as well as black and purple raspberries, do not produce adventitious buds on roots, (or do not produce enough) and cannot be propagated this way. They are tip-layered. Thornless mutants of trailing cultivars (‘Thornless Evergreen’, ‘Thornless Logan’, and ‘Thornless Youngberry’) are periclinal chimeras, and will produce thorny shoots if propagated by root cuttings. Suckering. Basically the same as root cuttings, except the adventitious buds have already produced canes. Tip Layering. This is used for black raspberries, hybrids, trailing types, and thornless mutants in lieu of root cuttings. In late summer, when canes have numerous shoot tips, shoot tips are buried in shallow holes. Lateral roots form on stems, and the following spring, layered plants can be dug and transplanted. Leafy Stem Cuttings. This method can be used for any bramble; semi-hardwood cuttings are rooted under mist in mid-summer. Tissue Culture.

This is used to a limited extent, especially when virus-free material is difficult to obtain by other means. Rootstocks – None Planting Design, Training, Pruning Most erect-growing Rubus are grown in hedgerows, spaced 8-16 ft apart (commonly 12 ft) to allow for equipment movement. Hedges are kept to heights of 4-6 ft, widths of 30 inches on top, with canes arising from a 12″ strip down the row to facilitate mechanical harvesting equipment. Trailing types must be trained on a trellis, usually 2 or 3 wires spaced 18 inches apart, with the top at 5-6 ft. Primocanes are trained by spiralling them around the wires, spacing them as evenly as possible. Alternatively, they may be bundled and tied to the trellis at regular intervals. Alternate year production is one method of simplifying bramble training. Canes are mowed to the ground every-other year, and produce a crop in alternate years. Costs of production are substantially reduced. Primocane raspberry culture – As mentioned above, primocane or “Autumn fruiting” raspberries produce fruit terminally on current season’s canes.

This allows growers to prune all canes to the ground each year without a yield penalty, greatly reducing disease and insect problems, and simplifying cultural practices. All that is needed is a simple support system, as canes top-heavy with fruit tend to bend over. For erect cultivars that are not mowed for alternate year production, three main pruning practices are required each year: 1) topping, 2) dead floricane removal, and 3) primocane thinning. The basic pruning needsof trailing and some semi-erect cultivars differ only in the lack of need for cane topping. Primocanes can be shortened to 6-8′ during the winter when floricane removal and cane thinning are practiced. BLACKBERRY AND RASPBERRY HARVEST, POSTHARVEST HANDLING Large operations use over-the-row mechanical harvesters almost exclusively, since labor for picking is expensive and unavailable. Maturity Berries are mature when they have completely developed their characteristic color, and are easily detached from the plant. Hand harvested fruit are picked directly into 12-pint flats, usually hung around neck or strapped to waist so that both hands are free. Harvest Method See pictures - Postharvest Handling, Storage.

Brambles are extremely perishable, lasting only 2-3 days at temperatures of 32-45°F. They are also easily crushed, and must be picked into shallow flats – typically 12-pint flats that can be marketed directly without further handling, or ½ or 1-pint plastic “clamshell” containers. BLACKBERRY AND RASPBERRY CONTRIBUTION TO DIET Almost all brambles are processed; perhaps 10% of the crop is sold fresh. Among the products using bramble fruit (in order of importance): preserves, jam, jelly; bakery products; frozen fruit; juices, extracts; ice cream, yogurt ; canned. Per capita consumption is 0.08 lb/yr for blackberry, and 0.22 lb/yr for raspberries. Nutritional value per 100 gram edible portion: Loganberry - definition of loganberry by The Free Dictionary Loganberry - definition of loganberry by The Free Dictionary Also found in: Thesaurus , Encyclopedia , Wikipedia . Related to loganberry: marionberry (lō′gən-bĕr′ē) n. 1.

A trailing, prickly plant (Rubus ursinus var. loganobaccus) developed in California possibly as a hybrid between a blackberry and a raspberry, cultivated for its edible fruit. 2. The tart red fruit of this plant. [After James Harvey Logan (1841-1928), American jurist and horticulturist.] loganberry (ˈləʊɡənbərɪ; -brɪ) n, pl -ries 1. (Plants) a trailing prickly hybrid rosaceous plant, Rubus loganobaccus, cultivated for its edible fruit: probably a hybrid between an American blackberry and a raspberry 2. (Plants) Strasberries and cream, anyone? Fruit that's half- strawberry, half-raspberry | Daily Mail Online Strasberries and cream, anyone? Fruit that's half- strawberry, half-raspberry Updated: 12:28 EST, 28 March 2008 comments It sounds like something Willy Wonka might have dreamed up, but the "strasberry" is real - and arriving at supermarkets this weekend.

Its small size and deeply positioned seeds make it look like a cross between a strawberry and a raspberry - hence the name - and it has a unique sweet flavour. However, unlike the Nectacotum, which is part nectarine, apricot and plum, and the boysenberry, a mixture of the blackberry, raspberry and loganberry, the "strasberry" is not a true hybrid fruit. Scroll down for more Hybrid fruit: Is it a strawberry? Is a raspberry? No, it's a strasberry Instead, it's a type of wild strawberry which was once close to extinction before being rediscovered by a Dutch grower seven years ago. The berries go on sale at Waitrose this weekend to coincide with the start of British Summer Time on Sunday. The supermarket chain - somewhat optimistically given the current weather patterns - is marketing the strasberry as a perfect addition to any summer picnic basket. Nicki Baggott, Waitrose Fruit Buyer said: "The Strasberry is a very versatile product which brings the best tastes of summertime and a very pretty appearance to the pudding menu.

"We are always keen to innovate and have long worked to save heritage varieties including the Delbard D'Estivalle and the Suffolk Pink apple. "As the summer unfolds we won't be surprised to hear that our customers are inviting their friends over for Strasberry Daiquiris, Pavlovas or serving them up with cream." However, the rare fruits aren't cheap, costing an astonishing £3.99 for 125g. They will be available in 17 London branches of Waitrose until June. It's not the first time that Waitrose has revived a once-popular fruit or vegetable which has fallen out of favour. In the past, it has brought back apple varieties including the Lord Lambourne, the Laxton Superb and the Worcester Pearman to British supermarkets - as well as the "king of root vegetables", the Golden Beetroot. How to Care for Blackberries & Raspberries | Garden Guides How to Care for Blackberries & Raspberries How to Care for Blackberries & Raspberries Reason for flagging? Submit Overview Blackberries and raspberries are bramble fruits that grow either erect or trailing.

The blackberry is actually a hybrid of the red raspberry and includes variations such as loganberry and boysenberry. There are hundreds of variations and all are easily grown. While some variations are less cold hardy than others, all blackberries and raspberries require the same general care for healthy growth and fruit production. Step 1 Irrigate the raspberries and blackberries regularly to provide 1 to 2 inches of water each week. Water the bushes with a slow irrigation process to avoid disturbing the planting area. Adjust the irrigation levels for periods of rain and drought. Step 2 Feed the raspberries and blackberries lightly, providing one application annually. Fertilize in the late spring or midsummer using a well-balanced, slow release fertilizer such as a 10-10-10 or 20-20-20 (nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium). Do not distribute the fertilizer near the base of the plants to prevent root burn. Distribute the fertilizer in a ring around the planting area or in between planting rows approximately 12 to 18 inches from the base. Irrigate the fertilizer thoroughly into the soil. Step 3 Keep the planting area free of debris and invasive weeds.

Remove weeds immediately as they appear. Pull the weeds by hand and ensure the entire root system is removed from the soil. Apply a thin layer of mulch around the roots of the raspberries and blackberries to reduce the potential for weed growth and preserve soil moisture. Step 4 Prune the raspberries and blackberries regularly to promote health. In the early spring, prune away any spent canes from the previous year's growth. Trim away any wayward growing canes that rest outside of the desired planting area. Remove any dead, dying or wilted canes, foliage and flowers. Step 5 Thin the interior canes to promote increased air circulation and light penetration. Trim the canes so that the length of each row is limited to four to five canes per foot. Remove all clippings and debris from the area to reduce the potential for disease. Step 6 Harvest the raspberries and blackberries as they become ripe. Harvest raspberries when they are easily removed from their stems. Pick blackberries for harvesting after a taste test. Look for a full, rich color and sweet taste when judging blackberries. Harvest the plants daily as berries ripen.

Tips and Warnings Use gloves and wear long sleeves when tending and harvesting berries, unless you have planted thornless varieties. Things You'll Need Berry Breeding | Eat Your Oregon Berries | Oregon Raspberry & Blackberry Commission Eat Your Oregon Berries Selling to Schools Berry Breeding The origin and history of the Loganberry in the 1880s was the beginning of the use of breeding to obtain better commercial varieties. Judge J.H. Logan was an interested backyard plant breeder, who began experimenting with breeding small fruits in his home garden at Logan Heights near Santa Cruz, California. Unsatisfied with the many varieties of blackberries, Judge Logan tried to cross two varieties of blackberries and unwittingly planted next to an old variety of red raspberry which had been cultivated for years in the area. The canes of all three fruited and flowered together and Judge Logan gathered and planted the seed. The 50 seedlings grew and produced a plant which was similar to the blackberry , but much larger and stronger. This, of course, was the Loganberry; a cross between the blackberry and raspberry. The remaining 49 plants were the Mammoth Blackberry, the longest fruit of any variety ever grown.

Since this time, viable crosses have been made between the cultivars of raspberry and blackberry producing offspring like the Logan to confirm its parentage. While the Logan proved to be productive and well-adapted to western climate conditions, the flavor was not popular with customers and marketing difficulties made it desirable to search further. The heritage of the Logan, being a blackberry by raspberry cross, stimulated interest in using it for breeding purposes and thus overshadowed the use of wild varieties for many years. Therefore, the Logan became a famous parent in the breeding of many cultivated varieties that are now commercially grown the in the Northwest. The Logan itself is grown mainly for juice, pies and wine. In 1927, a cooperative project between the USDA and the Oregon Experimental Station began a Rubus breeding program designed to cross the domestic varieties with ten native blackberry selections. The domestic varieties used were mainly Boysenberry, Loganberry and Youngberry. The search for superior native parents revealed that natural hybrids were occurring. Native blackberries are dioecious (characterized by having male flower and on one plant and female flowers on another) whereas the fertile natural hybrids had perfect monecious flowers. At first, these were thought to be new wild crosses with perfect flowered plants.

Later, however, they were discovered to be like the cross between the native and domestic blackberries. Santiam, Johnson, Starr and Lincoln are selections from the wild that presumably arose as natural hybrids between naturalized or native species and Logan. Other perfect flowered selections used in breeding, such as Black Logan, Kayberry , Kosmos and Ware, do not closely resemble Santiam and other selections from the wild and therefore may have some other domestic parent than Logan, such as Himalaya or Evergreen. In looking at selections of berries that have been outstanding in tests for canning and freezing, we find that all of them have Pacific Coast native blackberry entering into their origin to some extent. The varieties Logan, Young and Boysen are also in the parentage of all but Chehalem. A wild variety found near Salem, Oregon by B. Zielinski and named Zielinski was successfully crossed with Logan and found to have characteristic similar to the wild blackberry. Two of these were named Pacific and Cascade, and are grown in home gardens for their native blackberry flavor and often used for home canning, jams, jellies and pies. Both are vigorous, ripe early and produce up to four tons per acre. Both are considered too soft for processing.

The Santiam, a natural hybrid between R. ursinus and a Logan, has a rich native blackberry flavor. The berries are small and black with very small seeds. Santiam ripens early and has medium vigor, but produces an average of only two tons per acre. The Santiam is grown commercially in Oregon to some extent. In 1936 a cross was made between the Santiam and Himalaya by George Waldo, USDA, Corvallis Oregon. The Chehalem was selected out of seedlings from this cross. The fruit of the Chehalem is smaller than a Logan with bright skin, shiny black color and small seeds. The flavor is excellent and especially good for frozen products. The seeds are small. It is well adapted to the Pacific Coast, and is vigorous and productive in moist, rich soil. The Chehalem has been grown to some extent commercially in Oregon. The Black Logan, whose origin in not clear, was crossed with the Youngberry by George Waldo, and introduced as Olallie in 1950. The fruit is large, and slightly longer and more slender than the Boysenberry. Olallie is excellent for processing.

Plants are very productive, with vigorous, thorny canes. Olallie is better adapted to the climatic conditions in California as it often winter kills in Oregon. The Youngberry was another major breeding line used in many of our cultivated varieties. It was developed in Morgan City, Louisiana by B.M. Young in 1905. The Youngberry is a hybrid between the Phenomenal (a cultivar very similar to the Logan) and the Mayes Dewberry or trailing blackberry. It was not introduced until 1926, but it quickly became important in replacing the Logan to a great extent in California and to some extent in Oregon and Washington. 15 Lesser-Known Berries You Should Try | Serious Eats 15 Lesser-Known Berries You Should Try 28 Do you know your cloudberries from your dewberries? [Photographs: Jennifer Latham except where noted.] I moved around quite a bit when I was little, from upstate New York, where I remember picking wild blueberries, to Germany, where we gathered gooseberries, to the central coast of California, where blackberry vines grow in the mountains and suburban lots and our neighbors took great pride in their olallieberry jams and pies.

For every spot on earth, it seems, there's a berry to be picked. There's a kind of regional pride associated with berries: inky wild blueberries are as indelibly linked to summers in Maine as fat, juicy marionberries are to Oregon. Try chatting with a Texan about dewberries, and they'll talk your ear off about wild berry picking expeditions and Mom's dewberry jam. Tayberry pie. According to the OED, a berry is "any fruit that has its seeds enclosed in a fleshy pulp, for example, a banana or tomato." Watermelons are berries, so are avocados and pumpkins. But when we talk about berries we are usually talking about the tiny, colorful, juicy sweet-tart jewels that we use in pies and jams. We're all familiar with the usual suspects: strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries. This time of year, though, especially where I live on the West coast, we get all kinds of oddball berries at the market. What the heck are olallieberries, anyway? What is the difference between a tayberry and a loganberry? What are gooseberries good for? Consider this your field guide.

Berries You Should Know Marionberry White and Golden Raspberry Raspberries, like blackberries and many other thorny berries, are members of the Rosaceae family—just like roses. The raspberry family includes dozens of different varieties, which vary in color from very pale (almost white) to golden, blue, red, and black. The yellow variety shows up pretty regularly at farmer's markets. Flavor: Like red raspberries but very mild and more floral, both a little less tart and a little less sweet than their darker counterparts. Season: June, July, August Uses: Lighter colored raspberries are extra delicate both in flavor and in texture so they're better suited to eating fresh than baking. Great for muddling in cocktails made with sparkling wine or club soda, whether they include gin or rum. If you do want to bake 'em, galettes are a great way to go with all sorts of raspberries, since the fillings needn't be as sturdy as those for pie.

Just lay a round piece of pie crust flat on a baking sheet, add a thick layer of uncooked berries, dust with sugar, fold over the edges, and bake in a hot oven (say, 400° F) just long enough to get the pastry nicely golden. [Photograph: Shutterstock ] Black raspberry isn't just a sno-cone flavor; it's a raspberry that's colored like a blackberry. A reliable way to tell the difference between blackberries and black raspberries is that blackberries retain their inner cone when they are picked and black raspberries come off the core, leaving the picked berry hollow. While all the other colors of raspberries are fairly interchangeable when it comes to flavor and use, black raspberries are smaller, sturdier, and a bit more tart and earthy. Black raspberries are a native species to North America, as opposed to a hybrid like boysenberries, which they resemble. Flavor: Similar to red raspberries but slightly more intense, tart, and with a deeper brambly flavor hinting towards blackberry. Season: A very short, two to three week season, generally around July Uses: Black raspberries are very versatile since they're slightly sturdier than other raspberries.

Where lighter, more delicate berries tend to fall apart and might need more sugar or binding agents to keep them cohesive in a pie filling or a jam, the sturdier black raspberries hold together better. Put 'em in jam, pie, or muffins. [Photograph: Shutterstock ] Dewberries are closely related to blackberries, and while they can be found in the wild across much of US, they're especially common in the South. The leaves are used for tea and are often called for in folk medicine (they're recommended for *ahem* lady issues, like raspberry leaf). The dewberry vine grows on creeping canes, lower to the ground than a blackberry plant. The stems have small, fine red hairs in addition to thorns. Dewberries ripen slightly earlier than blackberries. Flavor: Comparable to wild blackberry, tart and intense. Season: Late June through July. Uses: Pie, cobbler, or a syrup for drinks. Huckleberry [Photograph: Nomadic Lass, Flickr ] When I was a kid a family friend made a yearly pilgrimage to a thicket of particularly delicious huckleberries in Point Reyes, CA.

He kept the location top secret, but I don't think he would have had much competition, anyway; he came back from foraging every year with a raging case of poison oak. He claimed the huckleberry buckle was more than worth it. Huckleberries are a smooth, round berry that ranges in color from red to dark blue. They're almost easier to forage than to find at the market (if you can avoid the poison oak, that is.) Huckleberries played such a large part in the cuisine of the Plateau Native Americans (Idaho, Montana, and Washington) that there still are festivals to celebrate the first harvest—dried huckleberries sustained native populations through long cold winters. One difference between huckleberries and blueberries is the presence of seeds; blueberry seeds are so small that they you'd never know there were there. Huckleberry seeds are a little bit larger, though you don't need to spit them out or worry about separating them out for cooking- they're entirely edible. Flavor: These sweet-tart flavor-packed berries are somewhat comparable to blueberry but more woodsy, almost vinous. Season: Early to mid fall.

Uses: Huckleberries are great in pancakes ; just add them in as you would blueberries. They're also excellent in scones, since they're nice and sturdy. If you want to go savory, cook huckleberries with just a little bit of sugar and serve with roasted meat. Back to the full list » Elderberry Elderberries are tiny and blue-black, wonderful for baking and also for making into wine. The history of elderberry wine in England and in Central and Eastern Europe goes back hundreds of years—it was particularly popular in 17th century England as a purported cure for the flu and the common cold. The unripe berries and other parts of the plant have very mild toxic properties, which are neutralized when they are cooked or fermented. Even ripe berries can sometimes contain the alkaloids which will make you sick; it's best to be on the safe side and always cook or ferment them. Elderflowers come from the same plant as elderberries, and have a heady fragrance and floral flavor, perfect for infusing into syrups, sodas, or cordials . (You've probably tried St.

Germain before, but the homemade stuff is worth the effort.) Flavor: Elderberries are very sour with a touch of sweetness. You'll need to cook them with sweetener to make them palatable but cooked they have a lovely floral, herbacious, deep berry flavor. Season: Mid-summer. Uses: Use elderberries in buckles, pancakes, pies, galettes, shrubs, and sodas. The flowers make wonderful syrups and cordials. [Photograph: Shutterstock ] You know where you've seen these guys before: in jam available in the food section of IKEA. Lingonberries play very prominently in Scandinavian cuisine; you really shouldn't serve Swedish Meatballs without a tart dollop of lingonberry sauce. Lingonberries are native to boreal forest and the arctic tundra. They are more recently being commercially cultivated in the Pacific Northwest. These berries are closely related to cranberries, although I think they really seem more similar to gooseberries or red currants. Where I work at Tartine in San Francisco, a visiting Swedish chef recently made Swedish meatballs for everyone on his last night before heading home. For lack of lingonberries, he made cranberry sauce instead.

He then spent the entire dinner crestfallen that the whole dish was ruined because the cranberries just weren't the same. Flavor: Sour, tart, bright. Season: Short arctic summer. Farther south you'll find them in late summer. Use: Mash lingonberries raw with a sprinkle of sugar and spread on toast, pancakes, or cookies. Or cook them into a syrup, sauce, or compote, and serve as it traditional: with meatballs, elk, or reindeer. (Don't tell Rudolph.) [Photograph: Shutterstock ] Cloudberries are native to the arctic tundra and only grow in extreme cold weather. They look a little like raspberries, but with fewer and larger lobes and a lovely orangey-rose color. They figure prominently in traditional Scandinavian cuisine, where they're used in compotes, vinaigrettes, and jams, and also appear in Inuit cuisine. Cloudberries are so delicate and prefer such extreme growing conditions that they haven't been cultivated much in the past. They are fairly difficult to find, although they are starting to become more commercially available, perhaps thanks to a burgeoning American taste for all things Scandinavian.

Flavor: Cloudberries are very juicy, and they taste a bit like a cross between a raspberry and a red currant. They are fairly tart when eaten raw with a bit of floral sweetness. Season: a short period in late summer. Use: Cloudberries make a stunning deep ruby-amber jam with a lovely, balanced flavor. [Photograph: Shutterstock> ] Things get a little confusing here: there are two completely different berries called gooseberries. First are the Eurasian berries: tiny, translucent, super-tart green, rosy, or red berries reminiscent of currants. But there's also Physalis peruviana, sometimes called Cape Gooseberry, which is a South American fruit. More on those in a minute. I'll say it here: Eurasian gooseberries are some of the most under-rated berries out there. Late in the season some of the red ones are good to eat raw, but most of the time they're mouth-puckeringly tart right off the bush. But that tart character makes these gooseberries fantastic for baking and for savory dishes. When mixed with a little sugar and cooked until soft, they become intensely aromatic and flavorful. Flavor: Eurasian gooseberries are intensely sweet-and-sour and somewhat floral.

Season: Mid-summer. Use: You'll need to 'top and tail' gooseberries to remove the stalk and the remains of the flower before cooking. This can be done with a paring knife or small kitchen scissors. Then you'll want to cook and sweeten them—gooseberries make a great pie filling alone or mixed with strawberries. They also are fantastic made into a chutney, spiced with warm spices like allspice, cinnamon, and cardamom. Serve it as a condiment for chicken or on a turkey sandwich—or alongside fish like black cod. Back to the full list » Cape Gooseberry Cape gooseberries are actually in the tomatillo family and come wrapped up in lovely little paper-like lanterns like tomatillos. They are more like tiny, firm cherry tomatoes than they are like most of the other berries in this list. They're one of my favorites for eating raw; there's something delightful about opening the little paper wrapping and popping them straight in your mouth. Flavor: Mildly coconut-y and tomato-y. Cape Gooseberries are quite unique, with an almost creamy flavor and a slight grape-like tang. Season: Varies widely depending on climate, anywhere from May through September.

Uses: Delicious raw, try slicing into salads. Or sub them into a tomato jam recipe. Want to go sweeter? Use them in clafoutis instead of cherries, or add to an upside-down cake . [Photograph: Shutterstock ] Do you remember the myth of Pyramus and Thisbē? In that Romeo and Juliet-like story, the illicit lovers meet under a white mulberry tree. When the couple meets their untimely and bloody death under the tree (sorry, spoiler alert), the gods stain the berries red to memorialize their forbidden love. These days, mulberries can be white, lavender, red, purple, or black depending on the type, but they are always 2-3 centimeters long and cylindrical. Asian varieties of mulberry are now common in North America, sometimes even pushing out the native types. Silkworms survive on a diet of mulberry leaves. Flavor: Mulberries are almost sticky-sweet, though most have an astringency and tartness to balance it. White mulberries are a little more delicate in flavor, both less sweet and less tart. Season: Late June through August, depending on the variety of mulberry and the climate.

Uses: Mulberries make a great ice cream; since they are so sweet the flavor comes across well even in a frozen state. They are also great for galettes and pies, and are a favorite for fruit wine or syrup. Use them as soon as you get them—mulberries don't last very long. Back to the full list » Hybrid Berries Many of the berries you'll see at the farmers market don't occur in nature: they're hybrids of other berries, created by planting fruit cross-pollinated by two different plants. (For more on hybrids and cross-pollination, head over to this article .) In the late 19th and early 20th century, botanists went on a bit of a hybridizing craze, crossing berries in the Rosacea family (like raspberries and blackberries) to try to come up with berries that had the best qualities of both parents. Loganberry Legend has it that the loganberry was accidentally created in the late 1800s in Santa Cruz, California, in the backyard of Judge J.H. Logan. Judge Logan planted an heirloom blackberry and a European raspberry next to each other.

They cozied up, and with a little help from the birds and the bees the plants cross-pollinated. Loganberries have a deep red raspberry color and the size and texture of a blackberry. The vines, which lack the substantial thorns of a blackberry, have dark green fuzzy leaves. The berries retain their cores (like blackberries do) but the flavor is somewhere in between: like a brambly raspberry or a softer blackberry. Flavor: Loganberries taste a little like a raspberry and a little like a blackberry. Very flavorful and slightly tart. Season: Midsummer. Use: You can use these berries wherever you'd use blackberries: they shine in jams, galettes, and muffins. Back to the full list » Tayberry If you're lucky enough to be in California in July, you might get to try some Tayberries (Yerena Farms in Watsonville grows lovely ones that they sell at San Francisco's Ferry Plaza Farmers Market.) Tayberries are a more recent cross between raspberries and blackberries, developed by the Scottish Horticultural Society in the late 70s and named after the river Tay in Scotland.

Flavor: Partly raspberry-like, partly blackberry-like, a little larger and sweeter than Loganberries. Season:Tayberries have a shorter season than blackberries or raspberries; instead of a continual harvest over a few weeks or months, they yield one large harvest in July. Use: Tayberries are extremely delicate. If you need to store them, spread them flat on a sheet pan and leave them uncovered in the fridge. But it's better to use them up, and there are plenty of great ways to do it. Tayberries have a naturally high level of pectin, so they're perfect for jam and pie filling. If you're following a blackberry pie recipe, hold back a little on the sugar. Back to the full list » Boysenberry The origins of the boysenberry, which is a cross between the blackberry, dewberry, raspberry, and loganberry, are a little murky. Sometime in the 1920s Walter Knott, of Southern California's Knott's Berry Farm fame, tracked rumors of a particularly delicious large purplish berry to a defunct farm and a few failing brambles in Northern California.

He rescued a few cuttings and cultivated them in Southern California, and a star was born. Boysenberries were popular and grown widely in Southern California during the middle of the 20th century, but commercial production has fallen off in recent years because the boysenberry is delicate and prone to bleeding, thus not suitable for shipping far or storing long. You can still find them at farmers' markets, especially on the West coast. Flavor: Boysenberries are a treat: super-juicy with a wonderful balance of sweet and tart. Season: Mid-summer. Use: These are really ideal for jam, since they offer such a nice dose of both tartness and sweetness. Great in pies, too. Back to the full list » Olallieberry Olallieberries are loveable mutts: a cross between the loganberry and the youngberry, each of which is a cross between a blackberry and another berry...basically a whole mess of delicious berries bred together. Olallieberries are primarily grown in Central California, where they have a somewhat fanatical following thanks to their juicy, bold flavor and delicate texture.

U-pick berry farms along Highway 1 north of Santa Cruz are a great place to get this highly perishable and particularly delicious franken-berry, but they sell out of olallieberries every year toward the end of July. Flavor: These berries have a flavor that recalls blackberries but with a deep winey note and noticeable bright tartness. Season: Mid-summer. Use: Olallieberries will be quite pleased if you put 'em in pie; they aren't too tough or too delicate and they have a fair amount of pectin, so they hold together in a filling well without a ton of sugar or cornstarch. They also make good jam, but be careful not to overcook; that pectin content means they don't take long to gel and if cooked past the gel point will become unpleasantly thick and gooey.

Question: Which fruit is a hybrid between a raspberry and a blackberry?
Answer: Loganberry